My Summer Vacation — bigwords101

Nope. I didn’t go to Europe. I didn’t go to any island. Nor Australia or Iceland. Not a cruise. Not a road trip.

My “vacations” are generally flights to where I used to live to see people I haven’t seen in a while: That would be California or Boston. I grew up on the north shore of Boston and lived in various cities and towns around the Boston area for about 40 years: Winthrop, Lynn, Somerville, Allston, Brighton, Framingham, Natick, Worcester, N. Grafton, and Westborough. Then I moved with my (ex) husband and two small children to Petaluma, California, where I lived for about 25 years. Then I moved to Florida nearly 5 years ago. I never used to visit Boston unless my daughter was performing (Disney on Ice) there. I would visit California because my son is still there, and I had a lot of friends and acquaintances there. 

When I went back to Boston for two high school reunions (since I moved to Florida), I realized how many friends and acquaintances I have there. It seems that I now have more people to see there than in California: my best California friend doesn’t really keep in touch. Another moved to Washington State. My teacher colleagues I used to visit have all retired and scattered about. 

So, using a concert as impetus, I decided to go to Boston last week for several days. It was so hot there when I went that I didn’t even have to adjust my internal thermostat from the Florida weather. In fact, it was hotter there than in Florida. On the day that I left, it was 100 degrees in Boston and only 93 in Tampa, Florida.

I had an interesting mix of people to see in Massachusetts. The only person I contacted who couldn’t meet with me was going to be in Grenada. She and I were in mothers group together when our daughters were infants, and we — and they — became friends. Although I rarely see or hear from her, I know we are still friends. 

When I travel like this, I try to schedule my time with people beforehand. First of all, I am there to see people, not sightsee, and I don’t want to just sit in my hotel room. (I don’t really like staying with people.) Second of all, most of my friends don’t know each other, so I mostly visit with them separately.

No complaints about the flights even though traveling by plane, hotel, and rental car is a hassle, especially if one is traveling alone.  Not to mention expensive!

The first evening, a friend I met at work in the 1980s and I went to dinner, She and I reconnected quite a while ago, and whenever I go to Boston I see her. She is also one of the few people who actually prefers the phone to texts, so we talk on the phone fairly often. She and I are  sympatico. Very alike emotionally.

The next day I drove up to New Hampshire to see my college roommate. I had not seen her since my wedding in 1985, although we had reconnected on Facebook several years ago. Obviously, it was great to see her. We have led very different lives and continue to do so — and both of us have pretty must lost touch with the other four women we hung around with in college.

That night I had dinner with a friend I went to elementary school and junior high with. We had lost touch for many, many years, and had also reconnected quite a while ago. I remember that three of these friends had come to see my daughter in Disney on Ice when I went to see her in Boston. I am not sure if that is when we recommended. 

The next day was the Happy Together concert with a bunch of oldies groups. Six of us met for dinner and the show: The two I already mentioned, another friend from junior high and high school and his girlfriend, and a Facebook friend from high school.

I had lunch the following day with a woman I met on Facebook, but had never met in person. She and I are big fans of the same oldies group. I knew we would get along, and she was a lovely lady.

My final evening there was dinner with four people from high school. One was a friend who lived down here in Florida who moved back to Massachusetts in December, so I had not seen her since. She brought a friend who was an acquaintance of mine from  high school. Joining us was the friend who had gone to the concert with us and his girlfriend (incidentally, he was my 9th grade prom date). And then I invited another person from high school who is a Facebook friend, but not a close one, and none of us had seen him since high school graduation day…..and that was a long time ago!

One of the best parts of all this socializing is that I brought some people together. Two of my friends who didn’t know each other at all plan to socialize together; they live fairly close to one another. And the two guys at dinner realized they had both taught high school physics and chemistry — and were long distance bike riders. They are going to bike together. 

Someone always had to do a lot of driving, but we did it. My friends live all over the state and then some. I don’t know how many of you are familiar with New England, but my friends lived in Salem, Stoughton, Milford, and Lowell, Massachusetts; Newton, New Hampshire; and Johnston, Rhode Island. 

And I didn’t eat any lobsta! I don’t even think I had any fish!

Home again….and next, something grammary or wordy!